Former Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman John Klingberg is looking at an NHL return and his former team seems interested in a reunion.
After only playing 14 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs last year, Klingberg required season-ending hip-resurfacing surgery and hasn't played an NHL game since December, 2023. However, it looks as if he's fully recovered and is ready to make his return.
Although he only played those 14 games last season, the Klingberg signing was one of the worst free agent moves in Leafs history. They allocated $4.15M to a player who only registered five assists and was horrible defensively, and played to a 42% Expected Goals Rating.
According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, Klingberg is generating interest from five-to-seven teams, which not only includes the Leafs, but the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers as well, with expectations that he'll make a decision in the next two weeks.
Leafs Could Be Looking at Adding John Klingberg
As crazy as this may sound, I actually like the idea of adding Klingberg to this defensive-group. Before you throw your phone against the wall in anger, hear me out.
When the Leafs originally acquired Klingberg, they added him as their marquee UFA defensive signing and someone who they banked on being a top-four defenseman. As much as he was a point contributor during his tenure in Dallas, if you watched him play for a week, you would've realized very quickly that he's a defensive liability.
So why would the Leafs look at adding a defensive liability to their line-up? Well if he's healthy, he'll provide solid puck-moving ability and likely won't be a defensive liability at all. The Leafs blue-line is pretty rough after the top three, and Klingberg won't even have to be that good to be an improvement over Simon Benoit or Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Plus, he'll help out a lot on the power-play.
The Leafs power-play is ranked in the bottom-half of the NHL and one of the reasons why is that they have no threat from the blue-line. Morgan Rielly leads all Leafs in power-play goals this year with one(!!), so the team clearly needs a big-shot who can help.
As much as it didn't work out with Klingberg last year, he can still run a power-play and be your number-one option, ahead of Rielly. With Rielly off that power-play, it allows him to play more 5v5 minutes instead, which in-turn helps the blue-line.
I'm not looking at Klingberg to play 22 minutes per night, which is what he's averaged during his career, but instead would be open to him playing 14 minutes per night as the No. 6 defenseman/power-play threat.
I essentially look at Klingberg as this year's version of Erik Gustafsson. When the Leafs added Gustafsson, he played every other night and helped the blue-line's offense. It wasn't a big difference-maker, but he was another depth defenseman who are neccesary to have on long playoff run's.
Although it seems like a crazy idea, I would actually like the Leafs to give Klingberg another shot because you're most likely not going to be able to afford many better options who can help the blue-line offensively, and that's exactly what this team needs.